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The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Tuesday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, seeking the dismissal of the remaining seven-count filed against him by the Federal Government.
The panel, led by Justice Hanatu Sankey, said it would communicate the date for judgment to the parties.
When the appeal came up for hearing, Kanu’s lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), informed the three-man panel of the court that the appeal was predicated on a notice of appeal dated April 29, 2022, while the brief of argument was dated June 20, 2022.
According to him, the respondent filed its reply brief of argument dated July 29 but filed on August 3.
The appellant filed a reply brief on August 25, 2022, but deemed consequently filed on Tuesday, September 13.
Ozekhome adopted his processes and urged the panel to grant the appeal as ‘one of substance and merit.’
He told the court that the appellant was first arraigned on December 23, 2015, and granted bail on April 25, 2017.
The lawyer recalled that on June 27, 2021, “the Federal Government forcefully arrested Kanu in Kenya and renditioned him back to Nigeria.
“Following the appellant’s preliminary objection to the 15-count preferred against him by the Federal Government, the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja, on April 8, 2022, struck out eight-count.”
Ozekhome submitted that going by Section 15 of the Extradition Act, ‘Kanu is not supposed to be charged without the approval of Kenyan government.’
Kanu’s lawyer contended that by Section 45 (a) of the Federal High Court Act, with regards to criminal charges, the trial court does not have ‘global jurisdiction.’
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